[caption id="attachment_748" align="alignleft" width="228"] Plastic Bottles on the road to Everest[/caption] It is rare that we ever pay the full cost of a product. The reality of this fact came to me as I was walking through the SolumKumba in Nepal last month and bought water in a plastic bottle of water. Sure, the water was more expensive in the village – almost 4 times more expensive as down in Kathmandu – but that was understandable given the transportation costs of getting the water to me. It had come by...

24 August, 2018 /

The rise in "Local" is making an impact. One of the three big trends shapingmarketing today - So Mo Lo ( Social, Mobile and Local), "local" tends to be an afterthought in conversations that focus on the rise of mobile and the impact of social networking and marketing. But "local" is a big deal to tourism marketing and is changing the way the industry does business. The focus on local has a couple of great benefits for tourism: Local product and services build a "sense of place". "Local" tends...

28 May, 2015 /

"A brand is no-longer what we tell consumers it is. It is what consumers tell each other." Scott Cook - Founder of Intuit. While Cook's experience as a software developer may seem far removed from tourism, this insight is having profound impact on Destination Marketing. At a time when destination branding is becoming more important, there is a greater realization that branding is not just a function of "Promotion" - great advertising, PR, online advertising, etc -  another of the 4 P's of marketing is taking its place in...

26 May, 2015 /

Sustainability and Social Responsibility are are the driving force behind the Top 5 trends in restaurants in the U.S. according to the National Restaurant Association. The top food trends, according to the  National Restaurant Association Culinary Forecast 2015 are locally sourced meat, seafood and produce and environmental sustainability. Why do DMO managers need to know this ? Because this trend is helping them meet their goals of improving the economic and social well being of their destination communities.  We are all becoming familiar with infographics touting the economic benefits of tourism....

13 May, 2015 /